Return of a Friend
by The Great Saiyaman1
Summary: A new Maverick has arrived on the scene, one that Alia knows personally, and she'll do her best to help her former friend. Will it lead to her own destruction?
1. Apperance

It had been one week since X had defeated the evil villain behind the events on Giga City. Now, he, Zero and Axl had returned back to the Maverick Hunter Base to relax for a bit after the happenings. Signas and Alia greeted them in the transporter room.

"Good to see you back, gentlemen," said Signas. "It's good to see that everything worked out."

"Me too, sir," replied X.

"Well then, why don't you take the day off and get some rest?" said Signas. "I've already looked over the full report you sent."

"Aw yeah, I agree with that!" said Axl.

The three of them began to walk out, but Alia stopped X as he went by.

"It's...really nice to have you back, X," she said. "I was starting to miss you."

"Yeah, I...missed you too," replied X. "So, uh, you like my new look?"

"I do. It's really sweet," she said. "Say, if you're not busy tonight...would you like to go out to dinner with me?"

"Okay, I'd like that," said X.

Axl and Zero overheard the conversation from the hallway.

"Woo-hoo, hear that? I never knew X and Alia had a thing for each other," said Axl.

"Eh, those two have been flirting with each other for sometime now," said Zero. "This is the first time they've been so direct about it."

"Neat. Well, what about you? You ever had a girl?"

"Yes, once, a while ago..." said Zero, letting his voice trail off.

"Uh, you okay, man?" asked Axl.

"I'm sorry, it just brings back some bad memories," said Zero.

"Okay, I'll say no more," said Axl.

After about thirty minutes, the alarm sounded. Quickly, X, Zero and Axl all raced into the central monitoring station to see what was happening. The monitor revealing that a single Maverick was creating a massive disturbance in a nearby city.

"X, you and your fellow hunters are the only ones immediately available to handle this crisis," said Signas. "Transport out there immediately."

"Yes, sir," replied X.

As the three of them headed for the transporter room, Alia looked the Maverick with intense interest.

"Who is that?" she asked herself.

Soon, X and his group had arrived on the scene, face-to-face with the Maverick. She was human-like and slender with short black hair and deep brown eyes. She was clad in silver armor from just below her neck down, armed with twin beam sabers that extended from her wrists.

"Wow, never thought they'd sent the world-famous X after me," she said. "Am I such a bad girl that you need to send the S-Class hunters out to stop me?"

"Shut it, Maverick," said Zero. "We're not in the mood at all."

"Okay, fine," said the woman. "I guess we'll just get right to the fighting, but before we do, I do at least owe you my name. It'll give you something to remember in the emergency room. The name's Jewel."

Alia froze as soon as she heard that name.

"Jewel?" she echoed.

X fired off an X-Buster shot, which Jewel immediately reflected it with her saber. However, Zero quickly took advantage of the opportunity, dashing in and slicing her with his saber. Jewel growled in annoyance, slicing Zero back with her other hand. As she did, Axl attacked from the side with a double shot from his pistols, scoring a hit. Jewel dashed at him, but X got her with another X-Buster shot, knocking her down. As she got up, she dashed into X at super-speed, knocking him to the ground, then raised her left saber to jab into him, but X rolled away before she could strike, allowing Zero time to slice off her raised arm.

"Hey, she's not so tough after all," commented Axl. "How about you just give up now?"

"No way," she said. "I guess taking on all three of you is too tough, but I'd rather go down fighting!"

"If that's really what you want, so be it," said X, charging up his buster.

Alia watched the battle intently from her control room. As she did, she observed a small red gem located on Jewel's right arm. She nearly fainted in surprise.

"No...no, it is her!" she gasped. "I can't let X kill her!"

"Here goes," said X. "Charge Shot..."

"X, don't! Don't fire!" shouted Alia through the communicator.

"Don't shoot? What do you mean, Alia?" asked X.

"Alia?" echoed Jewel.

"What's the big deal, Alia?" asked Axl. "She's a Maverick and we've gotta take her down!"

"Just listen to me! I don't want you to kill her, no matter what!" said Alia.

"C'mon, we at least should hear the reason why," said Zero.

"I guess that means I'm free to go," said Jewel, picking up her arm. "See you in the funny papers, kids!"

Before the Hunters could react, Jewel activated her internal transporter and beamed out.

"Aw, crap," grumbled Zero.

"What now?" asked Axl.

"What happens now is that we go back and get an explanation out of Alia, that's what," said Zero.

In a second, the Hunters had returned to the base and confronted Alia about what happened during the mission.

"What was with that?" asked Axl. "We had her on the ropes until you interfered!"

"I'm sure you have a good explanation, don't you, Alia?" asked X.

"Yes, I do," replied Alia. "I knew her years ago. She was my friend during the time I spent with Gate. I...didn't want to see her destroyed."

"Alia, we're going to have a serious talk about this later," said Signas. "For now, you're relieved of duty."

"Yes, sir," said Alia, trudging off to her quarters.

"She's not telling us everything," said Zero.

"No much we can do," said X. "We just have to wait for her to tell us herself."

As soon as Alia went back into her room later that night, she soon noticed the jewel implanted in her hand was glowing. The glow intensified at a surprising rate. Alia, realizing what it meant, quickly turned around, finding herself face-to-face with Jewel.

"Alia…it's been too long," she said.

"Jewel? It's really you, isn't it?" asked Alia.

"The one and only," she replied.

The two of them hugged each other tightly.

"Jewel, I've really missed you," said Alia, crying slightly.

"I missed you too," replied Jewel. "I couldn't believe it was you who stopped X earlier today."

"What are you doing here?" asked Alia, pulling back a bit. "You'll be detected if you've been infected by the virus."

"My body has been enhanced with the most powerful anti-virus software ever. I can actually suppress the virus for a few minutes at a time," explained Jewel. "If I leave before I lose control, it'll all be okay."

"What's happened to you? When did you get all this armor? How did you get infected? Oh, I have so many things I want to ask you!"

"I can't answer you tonight," said Jewel. "I don't think I can hold the virus back much longer, but I knew that most of all, I had to come see you tonight, now that I know where you are. I swear I'll come back and tell you all you need to know tomorrow night, if you can trust me."

"I trust you," said Alia. "I'll wait until then."

"Thank you," replied Jewel. She cried a little. "I wish I didn't have to go."

The two girls hugged each other, then Jewel teleported out. Alia looked up where Jewel had teleported out, then went over to her regeneration pod and crawled in, drifting into sleep.


	2. Revealing

Signas sat down at his desk. Alia sat in a chair on the other side of the desk. Activating a recording device, Signas began the questioning.

"Alia, you say you know this new Maverick," he began. "Now, any information would be helpful, so I need you to tell me everything you know about her. If you're caught withholding anything that could be of relevance, you will be dealt with."  
"Yes, sir," she replied.

"Now, let's start at the beginning," he said. "When did you two first meet?"

"We first meet back when I was working under Gate," she said. "I was working on a project…"

"Excuse me, are you Alia?"

"Yes, I am," replied Alia, turning around from her computer. "Who are you?"

"I'm Jewel," replied the woman. "I've got a bunch of data disks here for you from Gate."

"Oh, just set them down on the floor. I'll take care of them."

Jewel set the box of disks down on the floor and sighed.

"Geez, sure are a lot of disks in there," she said. "Does he really expect you to look over all of them?"

"Every last one," confirmed Alia. "I'm specialized in data management, so that many aren't a big problem for me if I concentrate."

"Eh, I could never do that many," said Jewel. "Hey, you have the time?"

"Let me check…wow, is it lunch time already?" asked Alia.

"Guess so," said Jewel. "Well, I guess I'm gonna head back now. Nice meeting you."

"Hey, hold up a second," said Alia, getting up. "You wanna have lunch with me?"

"Really?" asked Jewel. "That doesn't sound too bad."

"You sound like you two hit it off pretty well," interjected Signas.

"Some people just do, I guess," said Alia. "Afterwards, we started talking a little more and before long, we were friends. We'd spend a lot of time talking during breaks and having lunch together and we became closer every time. Before long, we just were starting to see other as best friends.

"Once that happened, we did even more stuff together. Sometimes, we went out for dinner or went to a movie. We even had sleepovers at each other's places sometimes. All the while, we really grew on each other, so one day, I got her a present…"

"A present for me? What's it for?" asked Jewel.

"Open it first and I'll tell you," said Alia.

Jewel shrugged and opened the box. In it were contained two small red gems, each glowing faintly. Jewel gasped in surprise at them.

"Oh, Alia, this is beautiful!" she exclaimed. "You really got these for me?"

"Actually, it's more like they're for us," said Alia. "You attach them on your arm, like this."

Alia demonstrated by placing one on the back of her right arm. Jewel did the same.

"These are friendship gems," explained Alia. "They glow brighter when the wearer of the other gem is near, but more importantly, they're a symbol of our friendship. What do you think?"

"I love them," replied Jewel.

"After I gave her the gems, life just kept going like it always did," continued Alia. "Aoon, I was transferred over her to the Maverick Hunters and that just tore us up inside. I really don't want to go into too much detail about that, but let's just say it involved us both crying for a long time.

"It was hard for me to bear living without her, so I just buried myself in my work. I tried to communicate with her via e-mail, but for some reason, I never get any responses from her. Still, I couldn't just forget about her. She was too large a part of my life. That's why I reacted the way I did when I realized she was the Maverick."

"So, you know nothing as to how she obtained those weapons or armor?" asked Signas.

"No, sir."

"Is that everything?"

"Yes, sir."

Later that night, Jewel arrived back in Alia's room. Alia was wide awake and waiting for her. The two hugged, then they sat down on her bed.

"Alia…I promised I'd tell you what you should know and I will," said Jewel. "Is there anything you need to know right away?"

"Yes. Why did you ever reply to me when I wrote to you?" she asked. "I've sent you a ton of letters, but I never once got an answer from you. Why was that?"

"There's actually a very good reason for that," replied Jewel. "It'll also explain everything else as well."

"Tell me."

"It started just after you left. I know how you felt about me, Alia, and I felt the same. When you left, I was torn up inside so bad, I could barely get myself to work each morning. There were too many memories there, so I got myself transferred to the field of weapons development.

"At first, I just kept working like I always did, but before long, I wanted a change of pace, so I began to volunteer to actually test the weapons. To my surprise, they allowed me to and I was starting to get good at it. They had just put me in this new armor type when the building came under attack by a Maverick. Since there were no Hunters immediately available, I decided to take this and fight it myself."

"You really wanted to fight a Maverick yourself?" asked Alia.

"No, I didn't, but I felt I could at least make a difference," said Jewel. "Anyways, I fought him and won, but I became infected with the virus as a result from a wound I'd received. My colleagues tried to help me, but when even the virus program they installed in me failed, I fled, afraid I'd hurt someone."

"So, that's why you never answered me…"  
"I didn't have access to any computers for a while, and when I did and saw your e-mails, I couldn't reply. How could I tell someone who worked for the Maverick Hunters what I'd become? What would you think of me if you found out?"

"I wouldn't think any different of you," answered Alia, putting her hand on Jewel's. "You always were and always will be my best friend."

Jewel started to cry and hugged Alia. Alia hugged back.

"Alia…I want you to help me get rid of this virus," said Jewel.

"Of course. How can I help?" asked Alia.

Jewel let go of Alia and handed her a small disk.

"This contains the schematics for my anti-virus program," said Jewel. "With the technology you have here, you could find some way to cure me."

"Jewel, we've been trying to find a cure for a long time now. I'm not sure if modifying your current program is going to make any difference…but I'll try," responded Alia.

"Thank you," replied Jewel. "I must go now. I'll come back every now and then to see how you're doing."

"Yeah, you can't just call me," said Alia. "Bye, Jewel. I'll see you later."

Jewel then leaped out of the window and teleported away, leaving Alia to stare outside for a bit, then go to bed for the night.


	3. Complicaiton

"Alia, do you have **any** idea how much trouble you're in for this?" asked Signas.

"Sir, please, she didn't do anything to harm me," pleaded Alia. "Besides, I didn't let her in. She got in herself."

"There's still the problem with not reporting it to anyone!" replied Signas. "Besides that, are you sure you can really use that disk on our computers? For all we know, it could easily be infected with the Maverick Virus. If that thing gets into our system…"

"What if I were to use it on my personal laptop, sir?" offered Alia. "It won't be hooked up to our own equipment. That way, if there's something wrong with it, the rest of the base won't have any problems."

Signas thought over this for a second.

"All right, but it will have to be monitored," he said. "It will also have to be done far away from base."

A good distance away from base, the equipment was all set up for the test. Signas had gathered with several Hunters to see what effect the disk would have on Alia's equipment. Alia had her laptop all set up.

"All right, start it up," said Signas.

Alia inserted the disk into her laptop. Almost immediately, the laptop sputtered and broke down. The Hunters careful place in the laptop in a quarantine box and carried it away. Signas didn't say anything, but just let some air out of his nose and headed back to base. Alia sat there for a moment in disappointement, then followed him back.

Jewel returned again that night. After their usual hug, Alia told Jewel what had happened that morning. Jewel was quite upset.

"I…I should've know that would've happened. I tried my best to avoid having it become contaminated, but I failed. I'm sorry," she said. "However, I'm afraid I have some worse news."

"What could be worse?" asked Alia.

"My program can't handle the stress of containing the virus anymore," explained Jewel. "I don't have any more time. Before long, I'll completely become a Maverick. I came tonight to say good-bye."

"Jewel…"

"It's okay, Alia," said Jewel. "Just being able to see you again has made everything better for me. You're the only one left in this world who cares for me. I'll always treasure these final few days we've had together. So, it's time I said good-bye."

Jewel turned to go, but as she prepared to leave, she stopped.

"No, maybe I don't have to say good-bye…" she said.

"Why's that?" asked Alia.

Jewel turned around, her eyes blazing a dark purple. Before Alia could react, Jewel reached out and grabbed her by the neck. She smiled.

"I'll make you a Maverick too!" she declared. "Then, we'll never be apart again! C'mon, let's go!"

Jewel reached over to Alia and ripped out her communicator, then she pulled her out the window into the night. Alia tried to pull free, but as she did, Jewel used her free hand to slam her hard on the back on her head. Alia blacked out.

When Alia came too, she found herself into an old apartment, bound and gagged on a couch. She struggled for a bit, only to find she was too tightly secured to get out. Jewel soon came out from another room.

"Oh, you're finally up," she commented. "Nice to see I didn't hurt you too bad."

Alia didn't say anything.

"I suppose you're wondering why I haven't already infected you with the virus," mused Jewel. "It's simple, really. I want you all to myself, so the best thing to do is to destroy your old connections to the base and the best way to do that is to kill X."

Alia's eyes widened with fear as she made several muffed remarks through her gag.

"Please, it's so obvious how much you care for him," remarked Jewel. "Look at how you reacted just as soon as I mentioned that, for instance. Besides, I've been watching how you act around him at base. You try to act all cool and casual, but you always end up all nervous and blushing. You two are so in love."

Her look became much sterner.

"I despise him for that," she continued, her voice cold and hard. "Once they find you I kidnapped you, he'll be the first one to come to me. If I kill him, you'll lose all heart for the base. You'll be mine and mine alone."

Alia violently shook her head no, still making protests despite her gag. Jewel, fed up with her motions, grabbed her neck again and lifted her off the couch. Alia immediately shut up.

"Say and think what you will, I intend to kill X," she declared. "When he's dead, you'll only be able to run to me. Now, be a good girl and don't make me kill you unless I absolutely have to!"

She threw Alia onto the floor in disgust.

"Get some sleep," she said. "Tomorrow, someone you care about dies."

She stomped off into the other room, leaving Alia alone.


	4. Confrontation

The next morning at Maverick Hunter Base, X was wandering around base when he ran into Zero and Axl.

"Hey, guys, have you seen Alia around today?" he asked.

"Nope. You mean she didn't have breakfast with you like usual?" asked Zero.

"No, I didn't see her at the mess hall and when I checked her room, she wasn't there."

"Maybe she's already at her post," suggested Axl.

"No, her shift doesn't start for another half-hour," said X. "I'm beginning to get a little nervous."

"You think something happened to her?" asked Axl.

"Could be. She has been acting odd ever since that Maverick we faced a few days back," said X. "Also, I heard that she let that same Maverick into base more than once. It can't just be a coincidence that the she disappears right when all this is happening."

"So, either that Maverick kidnapped her or she left to help that Maverick herself," said Zero. "We can't ignore the possibility that she may have been infected as a result of their frequent contact."

"Man, what is it with that Maverick?" wondered Axl. "Why's she interested in Alia?"

"Actually, Alia did tell me a little bit about her yesterday," said X. "Apparently, the two of them used to be best friends a few years back. That's why Alia didn't want me to kill her when we first met her."

"Okay, that makes sense, but I still don't get how she-…" began Axl.

"X, get down to the monitor room immediately!" ordered Signas over the communicator.

"Right away, sir!" responded X, rushing off.

X soon arrived at the monitor room.

"What is it, sir?" he asked.

"We've just received a communication from that Maverick you encounter a few days ago," replied Signas. "Open the channel."

"Yes, sir," said Pallette. "Channel open."

Jewel appeared on the main view screen.

"Oh, there he is," she said. "Hey, little boy blue. Nice seeing you again."

"Not in the mood, Maverick," replied X. "What do you want?"

"Nothing much," said Jewel. "Oh, Alia's here too. Alia, you wanna say anything to your love?"

Jewel stepped aside to reveal Alia, tied up on the couch. Alia made a few muffled screams as X clenched his fists in anger. Jewel soon stepped back into view.

"All right, buckwheat, here's the deal," said Jewel. "You want the love of your life back? Then you're going to fight me to the death. I've already sent you coordinates for us to meet at. Obviously, you're going to come alone. Oh, and don't worry, little Alia is still virus-free. See ya!"

Jewel cut the transmission.

"She's right. We received coordinates for the ruins of Gate's old laboratory," said Layer. "We can teleport you there anytime."

"I'm going," said X, turning around. "Tell Zero and Axl to be ready to come in for me in case I fall."

X found himself standing in the lab's ruins in a moment, his X-Buster already drawn. Jewel was standing about ten feet away from him. Off to the side was Alia.

"Well, you sure got here fast," commented Jewel. "I'm not surprised."

"Let her go first," commanded X.

"Are you kidding? She's our prize. Only the winner of our fight gets her," said Jewel.

Jewel drew her sabers and took a battle stance. "Now, we're going to fight here and now and I won't take no for an answer!"

"Fine by me," agreed X, taking his fighting stance.

X started things off with an X-Buster shot, which missed as Jewel leaped over it and made a diving stab right at his head. X ducked under the attack, then wheeled around and fired another shot, which caught Jewel in the leg. Jewel whipped around, slicing the air as she did to create an energy slash that whizzed towards X. X rolled out of the way and fired again. Just to be fancy, Jewel used her saber to knock it away.

X launched a volley of shots towards Jewel, who swiftly slip past most of them, getting in close enough to swipe at X, getting him in the gut. Stumbling backwards, X used her proximity to his advantage by firing another shot at point-blank range. It struck full force, causing Jewel to move back and bought X enough time to fire again. That shot also struck, creating a crack in Jewel's armor. She growled with anger and dashed forward with surprising speed, slicing as she went, knocking X down.

Jewel leaped on top of X and stabbed at his head with her saber. X leaned his head just enough to the left to avoid the attack, then kicked Jewel off of him and leaped back up. Firing a few more shots to keep her at bay, X leaped back and transformed into his X Fire armor.

Undaunted, Jewel leaped forward and sliced downward with both sabers. X rolled back from her attack and slammed his Buster into her gut as she got close enough. Instead of backing off, Jewel instead jabbed her saber into his left shoulder, causing X to recoil and pull his Buster back.

Jewel stabbed repeatedly at X, forcing him backwards, but X found an opportunity and slipped under her jabs and slammed her with an uppercut. Jewel stumbled backwards as X powered up a Charge Collider. When it hit full power, he dashed at Jewel and slammed it straight into her gut, striking the wound already created by his previous hit with his Buster. The fire attack seared Jewel's body, causing her to screech in pain and collapse.

X waited for a moment to see if she would get up again, then he went over to Alia and untied her.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

Alia didn't respond.

"Oh, I almost forgot," said X, lowering his head. "I'm sorry, Alia. I had no choice."

"I don't blame you, X," she said. "She went completely Maverick. There was nothing any of us could do. I just…I just didn't want to see it end this way."

"Neither did I," said X. "Let's go home."

"No…"

Both of them turned around to see Jewel struggle to get up.

"I'm not…dead yet…"

"You can't win," said X.

"This fight is to the death…I will kill you or die trying…"

"Alia…what do you think?"

"End it, X. Spare her more pain," said Alia.

"All right," agreed X.

X returned to his regular form and charged his X-Buster, pointing right at Jewel. Jewel barely had the power to hold herself up, much less dodge, so it was a mercy kill as X fired, the shot blasting straight through Jewel's body. Jewel simply flopped on the ground.

"Let's go," said X.

"Not yet," said Alia. "There's one last thing I have to do."

Alia walked over to Jewel. Carefully, she disconnected the gem attached to Jewel's right arm and picked it up. She then walked back to X.

"Let's go," she said.


	5. Aftermath

"So, how's she doing?" asked Axl.

"Not good," replied X. "She's been in her room for hours now. Then again, I can't say that I blame her at all, after what's just happened."

"Any idea what's going to happen to her?" asked Zero. "She's still in trouble for breaking about a dozen rules during this whole incident."

"Signas decided to go lenient on her," said X. "Given what's she went through and is currently dealing with, he figured anything else would be insult to injury."

"That's generous of him," said Axl. "Hey, how come you're not in there with her?"

"Do you really think she'd want to be with me, the guy who killed her best friend?"

"Good point," conceded Axl.

"X, I know I'm not the best to talk about relationships, but you really should go talk to her about it," said Zero. "You're going to have to talk to each other eventually, so it'd be best to get it out of the way as soon as possible. Keep it pent up too long and it'll blow out of proportion."

"You're right, Zero," agreed X. "I'll go do that."

X headed off for Alia's room.

"Hey, how'd you get to know so much about girls?" asked Axl. "You wanna tell me about your old girlfriend now?"

"No, I don't think I'm ready to share that with you yet," said Zero.

"C'mon, please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"I said 'no'."

"Are you sure?"

"Shut up."

X knocked softly on the door to Alia's room.

"Hey, Alia, can I come in?" he asked.

"All right," said Alia.

X opened the door and walked into Alia's room. Alia was lying face down on her regeneration pod with her face buried in her pillow, which was noticeably wet with tears. X sat down next to her, not looking directly at her.

"Alia, I know there's nothing I can say that'll change the fact that I was the one who killed Jewel," said X. "I know she was your best friend and how much you two meant to each other, but if it's any consolation, I didn't want to kill her myself. You know how I am about killing."

Alia lifted her head out of her pillow and looked at X.

"I don't blame you, X," she said. "I knew she was gone before you showed up for the fight. It's probably for the best that she's dead now, but I can't help but feel this way now that she's gone."

"I don't blame you," said X. "I'd feel the same way if something happened to Zero…or to you."

"X?"

"Alia…no, this is the wrong time to be talking about this."

X got up.

"You know, we never did get around to having dinner," he said. "If you'd like, I could take you out, if it'd help make you feel better."

"Yeah, I think I'd like that."

Later that evening, Jewel was buried in the ruins of Gate's lab. It was a small ceremony, only attended by X and Alia. The only sign that anything had happened there was a small tombstone, which simply read as follows:

"Here lies Jewel, beloved friend. May she finally know peace."


End file.
